Drain-tester



B. MERIAM. DRAIN TESTER.

(NoModeL) Patented July 9, 1889- Witnesses,

UNIT D STAT'ESPATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN MERIA'M, or osToN,MAssAonUs TTs.

DRAIN-TESTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 406,527, dated July 9, Application filed February 15. 1889. Serial No. 300,005. (110 model.)

To all whom, it pray concern:

Be it'known that I, BENJAMIN MERIAM, a

citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Drain-Tester, of which the following is a specification. 1

The nature of my invention is that of a vessel (preferably metallic) permanently attached (by means of a branch pipe or Y-pipe, or

other means) to a drain-pipe in a'house.

This vessel, when occasion requires its use, receives a bottle (or othervessel) filled with an odor'ous liquid substance, (preferably oil of peppermint,) which bottle carries a cork, and the bottle being'plac'ed in the vessel bot tom side up, the cork rests on the point of a finger or short shaft proceeding upward from the bottompart of a small frame fitted to hold the bottlein an upright position. The cover 'of the vessel being then screwed tightly down, the bottle is forced down upon the finger, which presses the cork upward into the bottle. The bottlebeing thus unstopped, the peppermint falls out, a small part remaining in a cavity formed in the bottom of the frame and the balance passingby gravitation into the drain-pipe below, and subsequently permeating with its odor the drain-pipe and all its ramifications; and the object is to detect by the odor of the peppermintas itpasses to the atmosphere through any. abnormal opening in the pipe the location of any leak or solution of continuity in the drain-pipe.

In the drawings, Figurel is a view in vertical section of my device (one-quarter the size practically used.) Fig. 2 is a side view of the same. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are respectively views in horizontal section taken at different elevations of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a side view of a piece of drain-pipe furnished with a branch pipe or Y-pipe. Fig. 7 is the same pipe with my device attached tothe Y-pipe, as I usually practice with it.

In the drawings, D, Fig. 1, is a cylinder, preferably of brass, bearing a screw round its upper end, onto which'screws the cover F F is a ring fastened firmly round the lower end of the cylinder D,and by this ring, called the supporting-ring, the device is supported on the shelf or shoulder seen to be formed by the contraction (and reduction of the diameter of thebore) of theinside of the branch pipe. (See Fig. 1.) T1

H, Fig. '1, is another ring, c lled the frameholder ring, which is fastened firmlyjust within the lowerend of the cylinder D, 1

' Upon the ring H rest-s the frame-base J, Figs. 1 and .5, which is composed of two'pieces of meial, of shape as seen, cast together at right angles to each other in the form of a St. 1

Georges cross. At the center these piecesof metal are held together by a circular piece of 1 metal, (cast with them,) i1rwhich is small cavity K, Fig. 1, called the .reserve-chamber, large enoughin the .size ofjthe device practically used to hold, say,- a tea-spoonful of= peppermint-oil. (See Fig.2 [When the peppermint emerges from thebottle, a portion of it fills this reserve-chamber,whilethe rest of the oil falls downward and passesinto the lower pipe, the portion remaining in the chamber being reserved measurably from evaporation, in order that the exhibition of the odor may be continued for a longer period. n

L L L L, Fig. 5, (L L, Fig. 1,) are four metallic rods firmly attached by their lower ends, respectively, one to each arm of the cross. (Seen in Fig. 5.) These rods, called the bottle-rods, project upward, reaching nearly to the top of the cylinder D, where they bear a ring M, Figs. 1 and 3, called thelbottle-ring.

Down through this ring and between the bot-.

tl e-rods L'L, &c., passes abottle R, Fig. 1,goin g in upside down, made of glass or other convenient substance and filled with oil of peppermint. (See the lines in Fig. 1.) The bot tle-cork (seen at the lower. end, the bottle being reversed) rests upon the finger or small upright shaft N, Figs. 1, 4, and 5, called the discharging-peg. n

In Fig. 6 is seen a portion of an ordinary house drain-pipe P, provided, as ishabitually practiced, with a branch pipe or Y-pipe Q, Figs. "6 andi, proceeding diagonally outward and upward from the pipe proper.

In Fig. 7, which, as to the pipe and branc pipe, is the same as Fig. 6, is seen at E D the IOO - used in actual practice.

other than 6 and 7, or one-sixteenth the size Operation of the invention: The case D, with its cover, (the bottle of peppermint being absent,) being, as heretofore stated, firmly fastened to the Y-pipe mouth, the open-lower end of the case D communicates with the bore of the Y-pipe, and thus with the drain-pipe and all'its connections. An effluvium being perceived in the house, coming, as its peculiar odor declares, from escaping malarious gases and probably the product of decomposition in the sewer or the drain-pipe, it is likely-the plumbing having originally been performed so as to leave the pipes air-tight that some breakage or solution of continuity has occurred in the pipes. It is a peculiar characteristic of sulphureted hydrogen gas.

the cause in most cases of drain 'effiuvia that it mixes yery readily with atmospheric air andthe foul smell consequent upon the escape of the gas from some leakage in the drain-pipe is all-pervading in the rooms of the tenement. Thus the location of the breakage is practically untraceable by ordinary means. To find it a stronger odor, with wellmarked characteristics, must be set free in the drain-pipe. I unscrew the top (seen in Figs. 2 and 7) of the case or box D and place inside the case, upside down, between the rods L L, &c., the corked bottle B, Fig. 1, of peppermint-oil,with the corkresting upon the discharging-peg N. Then replacing the top or case-cover E, I screw it down as far as it will go. (See the screw in Fig. 2.) The cover E, impinging (at the hollow on its under side, seen in Fig. 1) upon thereversed bottom of the bottle R, presses the latter downward,when the discharging-peg N drives the cork into the bottle, opening the bottle. The peppermint-oil runs out, fills the reserve-chamber K and then passes between the arms (see Fig. 5) ,of the cross, down into the Y-pipe Q, Fig. 7, and thence into the drain-pipe P, and as far down into the drainpipe as, before evaporation, it can reach. The strong odor of the peppermint instantaneously diffuses itself throughout the pipes.

ever itmay be, if the peppermint experiment does not revealits location-it is not from leakage in the drain-pipe. made by mydevicehas fully demonstrated that, and my invention has done its work. It remains only to unscrew the top or cover E and withdraw the bottle R, screw on the cover, and leave the device till it shall be again wanted.

It 'is seen that no fragments of a broken bottle are left to encumber the drain-pipe passage, forming the nucleus of an accumulation of substances liable to obstruct or even to choke up wholly the drain-pipe. The bottle can be used over and over again. Nothing of the whole device needs renewal except the evaporated peppermintroil. The case D, with its attachments permanently fixed to the Y-pipe, may stay there as long as the drainpipe does, never getting out of order, and thus never needing repairs. Originating, as I did, a number of years ago, the mode of testing drains by the use of oil of peppermint, (or other strong-smelling evaporable substance,) I have found the device above described to be the cheapest, most permanent, most easily managed; and practically the best device for the purpose described that has yet come under my observation. 7

The frame, as composed of the parts M M, L'LL L, and JJ, thoughoriginal with me and practically of great use, is not an essential part of my device. Numerous other easily-imaginable devices can be substituted for it. I use any other convenient device to hold my bottle in place. Nor is there any special need of placing my device inthe mouthof a Y-pipe, except that branch pipes are commonly used with drain-pipes, and the device once placd there need never be removed, and while not in the way can always be found.

I claim In a drain-tester, the combination of an outer Vessel open at its bottom and optionally closed by a screw-cap at its top and adapted to be attached' to the drain-pipe, a smaller vessel removably contained in said outer vesssel, a removable stopper in said inner vessel, a pin in contact with said stopper, and a screw-cap upon the outer vessel, the parts being so arranged that screwing down the cap on the outer vessel operates to remove the cork fromthe inner vessel, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

BENJAMIN MERIAM. Witnesses:

LEMUEL P. J ENKS, SAMUEL G. GREENWOOD.

The unerring test. 

